We first wrote about Cinco Sentidos (5 Sentidos) last year in our blog post Cinco Sentidos and El Destilado. Jason, the co-founder of both the El Destilado restaurant and the Cinco Sentidos brand, has a knack for building relationships with producers who operate in some of the most remote regions of Oaxaca and beyond. The […]

It was the summer of 2016, a few months before launching Mezcal Reviews. Jonny and I met after work at The Austin Shaker, a local bottle shop, to browse their mezcal selection. This was part of our “research phase” before launching the website. We chatted a bit with Kiki, the co-owner, who was eager to […]

The legend of Eduardo “Lalo” Angeles is growing quickly. His mezcals have been highly sought after in Oaxaca for many years and his personal brand, Lalocura, is quickly becoming one of the more well-acclaimed mezcals available on the international market. I’m not sure when Tyler and I first heard of Lalo. His name came up […]

Photographer, mixologist, chef, promoter, traveler, cultural ambassador, Instagram superstar…. Omar Alonso covers a lot of ground, and the Oaxacking moniker, for which he’s most well-known, seems to capture all his different personas. For those unfamiliar with him, a good place to start is his Oaxacking Instagram, which features some of the best photos, videos, and […]

What if I told you one of the most popular mezcal tour guides in Oaxaca, Mexico was a retired lawyer from Canada? Well, it’s true and his name is Alvin Starkman. He is well-respected in the mezcal community and has a stellar TripAdvisor rating. Ever since Jonny, our friends, and I got into mezcal we […]

This post was originally published in December 2016 and has been updated There is a lot of mezcal in Austin, Texas. Whether you’re looking to have a mezcal Paloma, or you’re trying to get totally smoked (pun intended) on straight mezcal, Austin has options for you. It’s the perfect city for mezcal. People here are […]

San Francisco, California is known for its year-round fog, the iconic Golden Gate Bridge, antique cable cars, and colorful Victorian houses. It’s also the most expensive city to live comfortably in the United States. But don’t let that cause you any discomfort because San Francisco is one of the best places in the United States to […]

The Mezcal Vago Tasting Room in Oaxaca is located on a quiet residential street in a small suburb of Oaxaca City. The space is used mostly for aging and bottling mezcal from Vago’s producers, but they have a bar set up in the corner of the main room that has four or five bar stools […]

If you haven’t heard of Mezcal Marca Negra, you’re missing out on some amazing mezcal from some of Oaxaca’s most talented mezcaleros. Marca Negra was founded in 2010 with the mission of promoting authentic mezcal – the brand does not shy away from releasing mezcals that are at or above 50% alcohol by volume. This might […]

Cinco Sentidos (5Sentidos) is the house mezcal of a restaurant named El Destilado in downtown Oaxaca. The restaurant was founded in 2015, and it’s quickly become one of the more popular stops for tourists from all over Mexico and abroad. El Destilado started as a mezcaleria that featured a curated mix of some of the more […]

Mezcal has become incredibly popular in the United States and mezcal bars (aka mezcalerias) can be found in most major cities. While many cocktail bars might have a bottle or two of mezcal on hand, mezcalerias are typically well stocked with small-batch premium mezcals, and their bartenders possess deep knowledge of agave spirits. They are […]

While Wahaka produces many fantastic mezcals that are more readily available, the Wahaka VdM line is some of the hardest to find and most expensive mezcal on the market. The name VdM stands for “Vino de Mezcal,” which is an old name that was used for agave-based spirits before Mezcal and Tequila were considered individual […]